Week 7 class exercise (Appropriation & its legal implication)

This week's lecture, we discussed about the Copyright issues of doing Appropriation art. After that, we were randomly grouped to discuss a few questions about the topics that were covered during the lecture. I grouped with Ying Qi, Jiamin and Luo Lan and these were the questions we got:

1. Is there a difference between Appropriation and plagiarism? If yes, what is the difference?

Yes. We feel that there is difference between Appropriation and Plagiarism. Appropriation to us meant using someone else's work to create and produce something of a different feel or expression to the previous work. Artists usually uses works from the public domain to avoid infringement of copyright rules. Works that are still protected under the copyright rules are still being used in this case but in a more careful and legal manner such as under fair use, educational fair use and transformative use. Plagiarism, on the other hand, uses the same material to represent the same idea. The expression of the ideal is similar.

However, we find that there is a thin line between appropriation and plagiarism and it is a very subjective issue to each individual. From the lecture, the example of Jeff Koons.

#1: The painting with the legs vs. Gucci photo advertisement - Jeff Koons won the case as he was portraying a different idea compared to the Gucci ad and does not affect the commercial benefits of the advertisement.

#2: The sculpture of 1 couple and 8 puppies vs. postcard (same content) - Jeff Koons lost the case even though his work expressed a different feeling from the postcard.
Therefore, we conclude that when doing appropriation, we should be very careful to not plagiarize.

2. Does the strategy of appropriation encourage or hinder your 'creativity'?

We understand the strategy of appropriation as the use of other people's artwork to create our own of a different expression. We feel that appropriation can both encourage and hinder our 'creativity' depending on how we view this issue. We feel that it might limit creativity as we will be restricted by what others have produced - the material, the ideas and also we have a tendency to rely on existing artwork instead of coming up with something new. In addition, we are also hindered by the fear of plagiarism (as mentioned the 1st question). However, it also encourages creativity as we can improve from what others have left off developing new ideas from the inspiration that is given by previous works.

3. Will you consider using the strategy of appropriation (if applicable) in your future work (beyond NUS)?

In NUS, we find that it is difficult to come out with something from scratch and so most of the time, we tend to grab ideas from other artists and in many cases, we do apply appropriation for our school works such as poster designs, etc. Therefore, beyond NUS, we will still consider using the strategy of appropriation whenever applicable.

However, we might also try to avoid using appropriation as we are afraid of violating copyright laws as it will become a very sensitive matter in future. We find that this sort of encourages us to be more creative in innovating new works rather than always relying on others. We are aware that its not always possible for us to come up with something new all the time, appropriation might be the best alternative after innovation. Therefore, being aware of the legal constraints of copyright laws related to appropriation is important for us so that we can practice it legally for future work without plagiarizing.

Week 6 class exercise (Appropriation)

This week we were taught about Appropriation (Art). To appropriate, it is to adopt, borrow, recycle work from others and combining all the ideas, images or work together to give the finished work a new context and meaning.

For the class exercise, we need to do appropriation based on the random words given to us. My group consist of Shu Ting, Yi Ling, Melissa, Yeow An and me and the word that we got was ‘mask’. After much brainstorming, the theme we came up was virtuality versus reality and the consequences of it. We decided on coming up with something that expresses the negative aspects of being too absorbed into the virtual world where the virtuality of the self has more live and the reality of the self becomes very dead.

And this was the image that we came up with:

The two skeletons portray two gamers (left: male, right: female) who become too absorbed into their virtual lives. In this case, they were absorbed into the game of Starcraft and that their real lives decays and becomes more dead as their virtual lives becomes more colorful and lively. This was further emphasized by the colorful computer screen on their heads/minds versus the monochrome color of the body/skeleton.

Week 5 class exercise (Experiment with Lights)

This week's class exercise, we need to experiment with the following:
– Direction of light (Top lighting, Bottom lighting, Side lighting, Back lighting)
– Degree of diffusion (Diffused light or Direct light)
– Color cast correction

Direction of light
Back lighting
Cast light from the back of the subject. Emphasize shape and outline(contour).

Side lighting
Light was cast directly at the side of the subject. Splits the subject in half, create strong shadows & emphasize texture.

Top lighting
The light source is directly above the subject, casting strong shadows downward.

Bottom lighting
Casts light from a low angle. Bottom lighting adds mystery and drama to the photo.

Degree of diffusion
The light source was directed in a specific direction and was further away.

The light source was much nearer and the shadows are more diffused.

Color cast
We used a computer screen with different colored backgrounds to cast different color onto the particular object.

Red cast

Green cast

Blue cast

High Key and Low Key v1

The rationale of the fourth assignment is that "High key and low key photography deliberately shift the key tone is not only to make an image lighter or darker overall, but also to signal a mood or feeling to achieve the desire visual effect."

We are required to capture 2 photos using straight photographic techniques:
1. High Key
2. Low Key

These were the photos uploaded to picasa:

High Key

f/8, 1/5 sec, 38mm, ISO-1600, +2 step
Comments: Overexpose

f/10, 1/40 sec, 38mm, ISO-1600, +2 step
Comments: better than the first one

Low Key

f/5.6, 1/60 sec, 105mm, ISO-1600, -1 step
Comments: Mid Key

f/5.6, 1/160 sec, 105mm, ISO-1600, -2 step
Comments:

I find that this assignment was the most challenging one! After I took lots of photos, both my high key and low key still failed and I don't really know how to get the right one :(

Assignment 3 Peer review

Every week's critique session, we will look and discuss each other's photos in small groups. This week's critique session is a little different as we had to choose the best photo for each category within our small group and post them in our blog. The goal for this was to make us learn to be more critical. Well, the people in our group are Yi Ling, Shu Ting, Melissa and me and here are the 4 best photos for each category that we decided upon:

Perspective by me:

Close Up by me:

Zoom Shot by me:

Metaphor of a SMILE by Yi Ling:

Nice composition. I like how the picture was taken and the idea of using swing and balloons to show smile

Focal Length v1

The rationale of the third assignment is "To understand focal length and the use of lenses in photography is essential, especially if one wants to achieve certain visual effects."

We are required to capture 4 photos using straight photographic techniques:

Focal length:
1. Perspective
2. Close Up
3. Zoom Shot

Concept Photo:
4. Metaphor of a SMILE
Expressing a SMILE without displaying any smiling face (no
human, animal, toy or doll etc.)

This week I went to Bukit Timah Railway track and Sunset Way abandoned railway track for the photo-shoot. For the metaphor of smile, I went to buy sweets and biscuit as props for my smile shot. Here's the photos:

Perspective

f/5.6, 1/250 sec, 20mm, ISO-100
Comments:

f/5.6, 1/125 sec, 20mm, ISO-100
Comments:

f/5, 1/400 sec, 18mm, ISO-100
Comments:

Close Up

f/5.6, 1/100 sec, 92mm, ISO-100
Comments:

f/5.6, 1/400 sec, 105mm, ISO-100
Comments: Abstract

Zoom Shot

f/32, 1/13 sec, 20mm, ISO-100
Comments:

f/32, 1/8 sec, 41mm, ISO-400
Comments:

Metaphor of a SMILE

f/14, 1/3 sec, 52mm, ISO-1600
Comments:

f/14, 1/2 sec, 52mm, ISO-1600
Comments:

f/8, 1/4 sec, 48mm, ISO-1600
Comments:

I didn't use any photos taken at the Sunset Way abandoned railway track partly due to the strong sunlight and mainly due to fear of height. Hence, I couldn't take nice shots there :(